-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a hat-trick as Real Madrid crushed Malaga 7-0 to close the gap on Spanish league leaders Barcelona .

The Portuguese striker ended his four-match goal drought in style as Jose Mourinho 's side reduced Barca 's advantage at the top of La Liga to seven points .

Second-bottom Malaga had no answer to a powerful attacking display and finished the game with nine men after defender Manolo was sent off and Cala limped off injured after they had made all their permitted substitutions .

Malaga coach Manuel Pelligrini , who was replaced at Real Madrid by Mourinho , chose to rest some of his best players and the decision came back to haunt him at the Bernabeu .

France international Karim Benzema began the rout after 27 minutes when he diverted Xabi Alonso 's free kick into the net .

Angel Di Maria added a second nine minutes later after capitalizing on a missed interception to slot the ball into the bottom corner .

Just before the break Marcelo slammed Di Maria 's pass into the corner of the net to make it 3-0 .

There was no let up after the interval as Ronaldo rounded off a flowing move to register a fourth before Benzema got his second with a header from Marcelo 's cross .

Manolo handled in the area to give Real a penalty and was shown a second yellow card by the referee . Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot .

And the striker completed his hat-trick by converting Sergio Canales ' cross at the near post with 13 minutes remaining before asking to be substituted .

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Real Madrid beat Malaga 7-0 in Spain 's La Liga

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Cristiano Ronaldo scores a hat-trick as Real close gap on leaders Barcelona

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Karim Benzema scores twice as Real move to within seven points of Barca